Johnny Cash - Unearthed (5CD)
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Free Music Notes for Unearthed (5CD)
Free Music Review: Re: American records criticism
Hit: 1 Stars
Hey 'whitelake', the Cash 'estate' wasn't alone in giving material to American Recordings, if indeed they gave anything. If you read the liner notes, you'll notice that Cash recorded his last four albums with them, and every one of them has the distress signal (upside down American Flag) on them, so if you're looking to point fingers, point them at Johnny.Free Music Review: amazing
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the amongst the best music I have ever heard, and this is coming from someone that generally can't stand country music.Free Music Review: Unearthed
Hit: 4 Stars
I finally got my copy of this boxed set. I own all of the regular American Recordings, and really wish that the fifth disc was either left out, or included some more hard-to-find stuff. I don't think that I'll ever remove it from the sleeve... which brings me to the packaging. I really like the compact size. I had no idea what the set looked like and was expecting a big box the size of an LP, so I was really happy when I opened the Amazon box and saw the packaging. However, I dislike the stiff cardboard sleeves that hold the discs. You can't help touching the discs as you try to get them out of the sleeves. They should have made a longer notch on the backs of the sleeves so you could get a finger in the hole of the disc to remove it. I love the music and discs 1-4 are worth the price of the box. 1 star off for the packaging and the useless 5th disc.
Free Music Review: Personal Memories
Hit: 4 Stars
What a truly distinctive voice! This is the musical equivalent of having a loved one sit in front of a video camera and tell all the stories of their long life, the ones you'll kick yourself for not remembering once they're gone. Thank you, Rick Rubin and American, for capturing these memories.
I've followed Johnny Cash all my life. My mother grew up in Dyess Colony, Arkansas, and was a couple of years ahead of him in school. I've heard stories from "J.R.'s" life from her, including the accident that claimed his brother. Since fewer than 500 people at any one time can claim to be from Dyess, the idea that someone from there hit the big time fascinated me.
The gems in this set have been mentioned. At times, the voice wavers, but it's still unmistakably Johnny Cash. Not all the experiments work, but the ones that do more than make up for any that don't. In general, I feel like the starker, simpler arrangements work best.
The book that comes with the set is great, with Mr. Cash's comments on each song. My only complaint is one that others have raised, and that's the cardboard sleeves seem like an exercise in CD sadism. The sleeves are the only reason I rated this set at "4" instead of "5". I stayed up until the early hours last night transferring the set to MiniDisk. (UPDATE: Several months after I wrote this review, my wife gave me an iPod for Christmas. So, the CD's made it out of the scratchy cardboard long enough to get transferred to it, where they sound great.)
Please understand, this shouldn't be the only Cash you ever buy! But, as a capstone to a great career, if you're a Cash fan you should own this set.
Free Music Review: 5 ain't high enough
Hit: 5 Stars
Four cds of new music by Johnny Cash? Listen, it's a rare recording artist who does his best work at the end of his long (50 years!) career. Even the Beatles slid into confusion, misdirection and repetition as they got on in years, even while still recording some great music. After recording a series of increasing less interesting albums for Columbia in the late 1970s-early 1980s & a brief, bitter run with Mercury that almost nobody heard, Cash came roaring back in 1994, reminding everyone who had ears how good his 1955-1976 music was, how surprisingly good his Mercury recording were and how strong his voice & vision still was. His re-recordings of some of his classic songs showed how powerful that vision had grown. His 1987 & 1994 recordings of Long Black Veil blow the 1963 version away. Understand Your Man, with the now openly acknowledged use of Bob Dylan's melody for Don't Think Twice, It's Alright, is better too. Ditto Flesh & Blood. New songs (new for Cash, anyway) like Redemption Song, Hard Times, Devil's Right Hand, the entire gospel cd, the beautiful A Singer Of Songs are all songs from a man producing his best work. Hank Williams looms large over country music but Johnny Cash has surpassed him in artistic quality, if only for living long enough to give us the glorious music of his last ten years. I hope that somebody officially releases the Dylan-Cash session from 1969, the entire Viper Club set, and American V. If you ever think about buying a boxed set, this is the one to start with.